24 July 2024

Well I wrote it would be big, but it turned out to be both massive in many respects and tepid in another.We adopted policy that council briefings and workshops will be held in public by default, agreed to live streaming them, along with raising with our statutory and joint committee partners, that we do the same with them. Only one Councillor voted against this.We also agreed to option three for the representation review for our initial proposal to go to the public for input. This was a bit tighter 9 – 7.Option three creates a separate Selwyn constituency and combines Ashburton with South Canterbury. The option also modifies the Christchurch City boundaries with that of CCC.In regards to the standing committees paper, we adopted the majority of the recommendations, but deferred the appointment of chairs and deputies. I voted not to defer as all of the Councillors were either in the building or online (4). The reason to defer was (apparently) that it would be better to have all those standing for positions in the room.We were also advised that Chair Scott will be back in the role tomorrow and transitioning with the support of Deputy Craig, who has been acting in the role for the last three months. I will post my thoughts on this desperately.